Machine cables are typically used to provide an electrical connection for mobile electrical machines. For example, in the mining or petroleum industry often large electrical machinery is used and each machine cable may have to provide power in the order of a few hundred kilowatts to a few megawatts. Typically such power is delivered with a voltage of one or more kilovolts. The cables usually comprise a plurality of cores and are connected using connectors including sockets and pins.
In an explosive environment, for example, particular precaution must be taken and a flame path may be required between the two connectors to reduce likelihood of explosions. The flame path typically is formed between a plug and a receptacle by positioning a cylindrical surface that surrounds contacts and/or electrical leads of the plug inside a respective cylindrical surface of the receptacle. The mechanical tolerance between the cylindrical surfaces is fine (typically 0.2 to 0.4 mm). As a consequence of the fine mechanical tolerance, canting or seizing may occur which makes it difficult to engage or disengage plug and receptacle.
It is known in the prior art to have a pawl and slot arrangement on a side of the plug and the receptacle which can be used to drive the plug and the receptacle together to engage pins and sockets and the surfaces that form the flame path.